Lawmakers Express Concern Over Apple's 'Anticompetitive Treatment' of iMessage for Android App

[MacRumors]

Apple's well-publicized decision to shut down iMessage for Android app Beeper Mini has attracted attention from U.S. lawmakers concerned that the Cupertino company is suppressing competition.

Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee along with Representatives Jerry Nadler and Ken Buck on Sunday penned a letter to Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter calling for an investigation into the Beeper Mini dispute. The letter suggests that Beeper Mini reduced Apple's iMessage "leverage" over iPhone users, leading Apple to shut it down.

As you know, interoperability and interconnection have long been key drivers of competition and consumer choice in communications services, from telephones to email. Startups and small businesses drive innovation, create jobs, and can disrupt entrenched incumbents when allowed to compete. But consumers will never benefit from competition if dominant firms are allowed to snuff out that competition at its incipiency.

We are therefore concerned that Apple's recent actions to disable Beeper Mini harm competition, eliminate choices for consumers, and will discourage future innovation and investment in interoperable messaging services. We also fear these types of tactics may more broadly chill future investment and innovation from those that seek to compete with existing digital gatekeepers. Thus, we refer this matter to the Antitrust Division to investigate whether this potentially anticompetitive conduct by Apple violated the antitrust laws.

Though Beeper Mini's developers have tried to push the privacy angle by pointing out the encryption its app offered for Android to iPhone communications, Beeper Mini launched using a reverse engineered version of iMessage that surreptitiously registered Android phone numbers as Apple device owners. It took advantage of Apple's own iMessage servers with fake credentials, so it is not surprising that Apple viewed Beeper Mini as a security risk.

Apple said that it shut Beeper Mini down because the app "posed significant risks to user security and privacy, including the potential for metadata exposure and enabling unwanted messages, spam, and phishing attacks."

Apple put a stop to Beeper Mini's full functionality just days after it launched, but the Beeper Mini team was able to come up with a workaround shortly after. The updated version of the app requires an Apple ID unlike the first version, and it only works with email addresses, not phone numbers.

In a CBS News interview, Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky said that he is simply trying to provide a secure service for Android users, and he decried Apple's iMessage monopoly.

As of now, Beeper Mini continues to experience outages as Apple tweaks the iMessage service. Beeper Mini engineers are aiming to keep the app up and running, and for now, it is free to use.

Apple may be facing scrutiny over Beeper Mini, but the pressure may ease after the company adopts Rich Communication Services, or RCS in 2024. RCS will be used for chats between ‌iPhone‌ and Android users, and it includes support for high quality video and images, emoji reactions, typing indicators, read receipts, and more, providing Android users with many of the same features available to iMessage users.

Encryption for iPhone to Android chats will be missing until Apple is able to work with the GSM Association that developed the RCS protocol to add end-to-end encryption. Google's version of RCS, Google Messages, supports end-to-end encryption on Android devices, but Apple is adopting the RCS Universal Profile and not the version of RCS that was modified by Google.

It is worth noting that there are many cross-platform apps that iPhone and Android users can download to communicate privately, including WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, and more.

Article Link: Lawmakers Express Concern Over Apple's 'Anticompetitive Treatment' of iMessage for Android App

 

[aidler]

It was a trap and Apple stepped into it 🤷‍♂️

 

[nostaws]

Apple isn't a monopoly. It is an Apple product. If you don't like it use an alternative.

 

[Sorinut]

Apple isn't a monopoly. It is an Apple product. If you don't like it use an alternative.

Monopoly laws in the US are based on how on a company acts/behaves, not just the market share.

 

[Realityck]

Though Beeper Mini's developers have tried to push the privacy angle by pointing out the encryption its app offered for Android to iPhone communications, Beeper Mini launched using a reverse engineered version of iMessage that surreptitiously registered Android phone numbers as Apple device owners. It took advantage of Apple's own iMessage servers with fake credentials, so it is not surprising that Apple viewed Beeper Mini as a security risk

Since this iMessage is an advertised feature app bundled exclusive to the iPhone, I don't see how this developer that believes that all encrypted messaging software should be a open standard that can be used without the original developers permission.

 

[toobravetosave]

Since last summer, Bell has complained that some Oklahomans are illegally "reselling" local exchange phone service to the public by allowing anyone to deposit a quarter, or more, into a privately owned phone to place a call.

 

[tazinlwfl]

Fine. Make all services compatible with the Messages app: WhatsApp, Discord, FB Messenger, Signal, XMPP AIM, Skype, RCQ, whatever… add them to the list of supported protocols just like SMS/MMS.

Stop trying to force Apple to open iMessage up and force those other services to utilize OS-level features agnostically.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Monopoly laws in the US are based on how on a company acts/behaves, not just the market share.

Apple isn't stopping Google or anyone else from developing a Messaging application on macOS. Or iOS, iPadOS. Get over it.

No company should be dictated to the terms on which application private frameworks must interface with and how they must because Governments want to crack in and listen into everyones conversations. The days of Telcos tapping phones are over.

 

[neuropsychguy]

It's anti-competitive for Apple to fix security issues? I think there are better things for these senators and representatives to do than talk about things they don't understand.

 

[strayts]

Apple isn't a monopoly. It is an Apple product. If you don't like it use an alternative.

The question is whether or not Apple broke or is breaking anti-trust laws. Which is pretty likely given how other companies have been punished in the past. It was a trap and Apple fell for it.

 

[DocMultimedia]

I just don't get it. I text non iPhone people all the time. If it's not as pretty that's just a gui thing. Yeesh. You get the look you want. It's not like we can't text each other. Can't we all just get along?

 

[Verified Whiskey]

But didn’t beeper break the law by reverse engineering Apple’s intellectual property? Annoying that they’re getting away with it, to be honest.

 

[Chaos215bar2]

It's anti-competitive for Apple to fix security issues? I think there are better things for these senators and representatives to do than talk about things they don't understand.

Exactly.

It's one thing to try to claim that iMessage is anticompetitive because it excludes other platforms. I don't necessarily agree with that, but at least it would be a logical argument to make, and these Senators would have some ground to stand on making it.

But to latch onto Apple choosing to close a loophole that allowed a third party service to access iMessage in a way that was never intended, and to claim that, specifically represents "anticompetitive" behavior, is just ridiculous from a technical standpoint, and really challenges the credibility of anyone who would choose that as a starting point for an argument to regulate Apple or its services.

 

[FaustsHausUK]

It apparently exploited a security flaw, and they planned to commercialise it. Not sure why Apple is the bad guy in this specific instance. Again, Android and Apple users have many ways to communicate and share media securely, this is totally stupid.

 

[DFZD]

Not very long ago, Apple used to be a company that innovated and contributed to new technology standards.. now it just fights them in court and market to ensure the users are still using decade old proprietary technologies.

This is unfortunately going to be Tim Cook’s Legacy.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

Another publicity whore CEO banking on the ignorance of politicians.

 

[goobot]

Law makers are just upset that Apple makes it hard for them to spy on people

 

[darkpaw]

Not very long ago, Apple used to be a company that innovated and contributed to new technology standards.. now it just fights them in court and market to ensure the users are still using decade old proprietary technologies.

This is unfortunately going to be Tim Cook’s Legacy.

Can WhatsApp send iMessage messages? No. Why aren't WhatsApp changing their software to enable this? Why aren't WhatsApp contributing their code to a new interoperable messaging standard?!!!11!!1!! Waaaaaaaaaah.

Apple created iMessage. WhatsApp created WhatsApp. Facebook created FB Messenger. They are different apps. Why must they all have to interconnect? What's the point?

 

[boss.king]

I just don't get it. I text non iPhone people all the time. If it's not as pretty that's just a gui thing. Yeesh. You get the look you want. It's not like we can't text each other. Can't we all just get along?

No one is complaining about the UI, it's the lack of features and lower quality experience. Group messages are worse when non-iOS devices are involved. Images are compressed. Video is garbage. Nothing is encrypted. If you don't care about any of those things, that's fine, but let's not pretend that it's just people whining because the interface is bad. It's a bad experience for me as an iOS user to message people not on iOS because of the choices Apple is making.

 

[CarAnalogy]

OK I've gone from not respecting this guy to actively disliking this guy. Who the hell does he think he is. The entitlement! Not only does he expect to use Apple's services for free against their will, now he's crying to the government to try to force them? He's not trying to help anyone but himself, and he's being disingenuous.

Also, another great example of clueless lawmakers wasting their time on stuff like this when there are far, far more serious problems that they have the power to address.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Since this iMessage is an advertised feature app exclusive to the iPhone, I don't see how this developer that believes that all encrypted messaging software should be a open standard that can be used without the original developers permission.

Exactly.

It reminds me of Blackberry Messenger back in the day. It was understood that BBM was exclusively for Blackberry users. I used BBM to communicate with other Blackberry users... and plain ol' SMS to talk to everyone else.

Only after the Blackberry was reduced to single-digit market share did they ever think about releasing it on other platforms.

At least on the iPhone I can use one app, Messages, to talk to both iPhone users and Android users. The only difference is the additional features that are available for iPhone-to-iPhone communication. (which makes sense since Apple designed it from the ground up to work that way)

So yeah... I don't see how Beeper thinks Apple owes them anything.

I guess the Beeper CEO thought is was easier to reverse-engineer Apple's system rather than create their own platform like Signal, Telegram, etc...

🤔

 

[Rychiar]

So patching security holes is illegal now?

 

[macduke]

That's fine, but you can't compel Apple to give away their service for free. There will be a cost to using iMessage on other platforms. Apple builds that cost into every expensive Apple product sold. And you must make all messaging platforms be interoperable, as you can't just single out one company.

I also question the security of other platforms, such as Android, whose app stores are rife with malware. How can we know that something isn't reading these messages on the screen? I wouldn't be surprised if Apple gave these messages a special color and a warning about potential security risks.

 

[Stiksi]

Fine. Make all services compatible with the Messages app: WhatsApp, Discord, FB Messenger, Signal, XMPP AIM, Skype, RCQ, whatever… add them to the list of supported protocols just like SMS/MMS.

Stop trying to force Apple to open iMessage up and force those other services to utilize OS-level features agnostically.

Apple's Messages doesn't have half the features these services rely on. It would take a massive development leap for Messages to be able to handle them. I think it's just time for people to admit that Messages is a thing of the past. If Apple wants to die on the hill of proprietary apps, just let them.

 

[DFZD]

Can WhatsApp send iMessage messages? No. Why aren't WhatsApp changing their software to enable this? Why aren't WhatsApp contributing their code to a new interoperable messaging standard?!!!11!!1!! Waaaaaaaaaah.

Apple created iMessage. WhatsApp created WhatsApp. Facebook created FB Messenger. They are different apps. Why must they all have to interconnect? What's the point?

It can be confusing so let me explain my point.
Apple created iMessage and locked it up for everyone else.
Google helped created RCS and opened it up for others.
Now iPhone users can communicate well with each other but for iPhone and Android users to communicate with each other they need to use a third option like Messenger or Whatsapp. Neither of them is known for user privacy or encryption.